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“What do you mean?” I asked, heart thudding.
“We have to do it so we don’t look suspicious, but it’s not actually why I’m here,” she said, taking another step closer. She lowered her voice and went on. “I’m here because of Jensen.”
My eyes widened. “What?”
“Let’s just say I’ve joined the dark side,” she said, throwing her hands up.
I lifted a brow. “You’re already on the dark side, Piper.”
“Whatever,” she said with a light scoff. “You know what I mean. I’m helping him get you out of here, okay?”
I stared at her, eyes narrowed with disbelief. “Bullshit.”
“No bullshit. I’m here to help. I swear. All that stuff I said to you back in your room was just to throw Mom off. I can’t have her suspecting anything.”
“I don’t believe you,” I said, folding my arms. “Why would you suddenly decide to help me? You’re neck-deep in all of this Rosmerta shit.”
She shifted uncomfortably on her high heels. “Let’s just say… Jensen has something on me. Something bad.”
My pulse sped up again. “What is it?”
“It’s too long to explain now. But if it gets out, I’m basically dead, and Jensen seems more than willing to let that happen. So I have no choice but to help him help you.”
“Wow. You really don’t need to sound so enthusiastic about it,” I said drily.
“Um, I’m literally saving you, so how about you save the sarcasm for later?”
“Okay.” I dropped my arms back to my sides. “If this is real, tell me how it’s going to work.”
I half-expected her to laugh in my face and tell me it was all a sick joke. Instead, she gestured to the brooch on her jacket. “See this?” she said. “It’s actually a wireless camera. As soon as I click something on my phone, the camera will switch on and start transmitting footage directly to Jensen’s laptop.”
I stared at her, mystified. “Why?”
“You might as well sit down,” she said, gesturing to the floor. “It’ll take a while to explain.”
I did as she said, perching on a large crate. She sat next to me, hands twisting on her lap.
“When I give you the tour of the Playground, I’ll film everything,” she said. “The medical center, the birthing rooms, the pregnant women everywhere. Literally everything. I’ll also find my mom again at some point, and I’ll get her on camera saying some incriminating stuff.”
“How?” I asked, brows furrowing.
“Don’t worry. I’ve got that covered. You just need to play along with whatever I say, okay?”
“Okay. What will you do with the footage?”
“Like I said, it’ll be wirelessly transmitting to Jensen the whole time we’re walking around. He’ll edit it into a proper video. Then he’ll post it on socials and send it to every single media outlet and every single cop in the county, along with a writeup of what’s been happening.”
“But the cops—”
Piper raised a palm and cut me off. “I know, I know. We don’t know which ones are shady. That’s why he’s sending it to all of them. That way, even if one of the bad guys gets it, a ton of the good guys get it at the same time.”
“Oh, right. The good old scattershot approach.”
“Pretty much.” Piper shrugged and went on. “Obviously, we’ll be totally screwed once the other Rosmerta people realize what we’ve done, so we’ll need to hide out somewhere. But we’ve got that covered already.”
“Okay.” I swallowed thickly. “How are you getting me out of here?”
“Don’t worry, we’ve come up with a plan for that too. I’m going to tell my mom I need some boxes of cranberry sauce and raspberry jam for Christmas gifts that the girls and I are organizing for our teachers,” Piper said. “I’ll reverse the car into one of the storage sheds, and you’ll get in the trunk when no one’s looking. Then I’ll say I’m heading home. The security team will obviously see the car on the surveillance footage, but they’ll recognize the plates, so they’ll know it’s just me leaving for the day. That way we’ll get through the gate with no issues.”
